This invention relates to a method for selectively transferring information among different operating session being executed by a workstation having a video display. In a preferred form, the invention is practiced in the transfer of information characterized in that the source and destination information includes a composite of protected and unprotected fields.
Contemporary workstations use high speed computers to drive video displays in response to controls provided by human users through input/output devices such as a keyboard, a mouse or a pointer. Often the entry of raw information into the information processing system must be repeated to adjust for differences in format or structure between programs or sessions running on the workstation. In the context of business applications, customer information or the like entered into one session or program is frequently re-entered for different sessions or programs. Many workstations fail to provide a media and data structure for directly linking information between programs or sessions.
A partial solution to the movement of information from one program or session to another is typified by the clipboard class of utility programs available in many workstations. In general, the clipboard program permits the human operator to identify desired information in a video display, by circumscribing the region with a rectangular perimeter line controlled by a mouse or keyboard, and then storing the information within the defined region for future use. The information stored by the clipboard program can thereafter be selectively pasted into a destination screen upon command, once or a multiplicity of times. Though the movement of information using a clipboard concept has significantly reduced the burden of full data re-entry, the clipboard creates ambiguous situations when used with programs having video displayed patterns including both protected and unprotected fields.
Protected fields are those regions of a video displayed pattern which may not be changed by the user in the course of interacting with the program operating on the workstation. Typical examples of protected fields are prompts such as "name" and "street address", which appear in record generation programs. The unprotected fields in such text applications are the spaces which accept data from the user entered by keyboard or other input device. As was noted earlier, the ideal information processing system would upon receipt of data into an unprotected field immediately replicate or link that data to corresponding other unprotected fields among various related programs or sessions. Unfortunately, such links or threads are not commonly available and are being further complicated with the trend toward information composed of graphic characters such as icons or bit mapped pattern representations.
The use of a clipboard utility to copy selected patterns from a source screen and thereafter selectively transfer such patterns to a destination screen by pasting clearly has appeal given that the process encompasses the movement of both text and graphic representations. However, when used with video display programs or sessions having a mix of protected and unprotected fields, the clipboard may mislead the user, and as a consequence introduce pervasive errors in the data being transferred. The present invention recognizes the potential for such errors and therefor provides a method for using a clipboard utility to transfer information between programs and sessions without loosing control of the data characteristics and with a full awareness of the effects that a pasting operation will have upon the information.